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A complete body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the…A compleat body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the…
A complete body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the Assembly's Shorter catechism wherein the doctrines of the Christian religion are unfolded, their truth confirmed, their excellence displayed, their usefulness improved; contrary errors & vices refuted & exposed, objections answered, controversies settled, cases of conscience resolved; and a great light thereby reflected on the present age. / By the Reverend & learned Samuel Willard, M.A. late Pastor of the South Church in Boston, and vice-president of Harvard College in Cambridge, in New-England. ; Prefaced by the pastors of the same church. ; [Six lines of Scripture texts]A compleat body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the Assembly's Shorter catechism wherein the doctrines of the Christian religion are unfolded, their truth confirm'd, their excellence display'd, their usefulness improv'd; contrary errors & vices refuted & expos'd, objections answer'd, controversies settled, cases of conscience resolv'd; and a great light thereby reflected on the present age. / By the Reverend & learned Samuel Willard, M.A. late Pastor of the South Church in Boston, and vice-president of Harvard College in Cambridge, in New-England. ; Prefac'd by the pastors of the same church. ; [Six lines of Scripture texts]
printed by B. Green and S. Kneeland for B. Eliot and D. Henchman, 1726
AN EXPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY's SHORTER CATECHISM: IN Two Hundred a… › Sermon 11 (Question 3)
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. THERE is no glorifying of God, without knowing of him. How is it possible for men to give him the glory that is du• to his name, if they know not his name? If we know not who, or what he is, we cannot acknowledge him as he is. Knowledge & trust go together, Psal. 9.10 They that know thy name will put their trust in thee. All the Atheism and irreligion in the World ariseth from men's nescience of God, Psal. 14. begin. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The Apostle chargeth all the wickeds carriage to Christ, upon their not knowing him, 1 Cor. 2.8, 9. Which n•ne of the princes of this world knew: for had they known is, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. For this ignorance of God, is declared to be destructive, Hos 4.6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
4. NATURE makes no such discovery of God, as may furnish us with a knowledge sufficient for happiness. Not the light of nature in men's hearts, for that was only adapted to the law of the first Covenant, which cannot give life to man that is dead in sin. Gal 3.21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness shou•• have been by the law. And the better part of it is also obliterated by the fall: and though there be such an impression indelible upon every man's heart, as carries in it the conviction of a Deity; whereupon there is no nation but hath some Religion or other; yet their minds are so darkened, that they know not who or what manner of God he is; hence they have taken up with false gods, and false Worship. Nor yet the book of nature, the great and admirable works of God; for tho' there is never a leaf in this Book, but hath something of God written legibly upon it, and many Characters of his Divine power, wisdom and goodness there engraven; yet all this will leave a man short of the saving knowledge of him; there is enough there for man's Condemnation, but not for their Salvation; to stop their mouths; but not to light them their way.